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Windows Vista Gadgets - Should You Be Using Them?I have been using Windows Vista since the early beta releases. I have always liked the Windows Vista Gadgets, I used to use a Mac a few years back and wished that Windows had the same kind of functionality. Then came Konfabulator, by Yahoo, I actively used that in XP. When Vista beta came out there were not many active coders making these Windows Vista Gadgets because the Operating System was still in Beta. Later in the months when the RTM release came out some of the most popular gadgets were the Vista release countdown clock. I have been using that gadget because I am a Vista and Windows fan boy. One of the most used gadgets in the vista side bar is the Clock, I have no idea what the developers were thinking when they put that clock in there! Don’t we already get a clock on the taskbar?! Why would I need another annoying analog clock on the side distracting me whenever I am doing something? When the Vista Release Countdown Clock struck 0 and no longer had a use for it, Microsoft launched the side bar gallery so people could post their gadgets up and have people rate, comment and download them. There is a whole array of Windows Vista Gadgets, from basic calendars to games to package trackers. I use the package tracking gadget to see when I am going to receive my next book from Amazon. Some of the games are very basic like puzzle games where it takes a picture in your “My Pictures” folder and blows it up into 10’s of pieces and you have to put it back together, this is very entertaining to do when you are bored to death. The calendar and the to do list are by far the most useful gadgets, because the to do list is a sticky note just like old Macintosh used to have, you can write on the notes, you can change the colors from yellow to pink and do whole bunch of very exciting things like this. My most used gadgets are Ebay Sellers watch, as a active seller on Ebay, I need to able to check when my auctions are going to end or if and when people asked me questions about my auctions. Also to track the current bids on my auctions. Package tracker is also good to check, when I ship out my ebay orders to check on where the packages are and see if they have been signed by the people that are supposed to get them. Overall my experience with sidebar is great, it is a great idea and more developers need to take advantage of it and create gadgets that suit the Vista theme and look like what Vista is supposed to look like with the aero effects. One of the reasons that I refuse to use XP sometimes is I miss the sidebar; it is true that I can download other apps to fill this void. But, the sidebar and the search integrate well into Vista and is a job well done by Microsoft.
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